Maple Leafs: Special teams the difference in disappointing loss to Capitals
The Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t able to kill off their second penalty in overtime, losing to the Washington Capitals in disappointing fashion.
After seeing some uninspiring performances, the Toronto Maple Leafs were as determined to get a win as we have seen all season.
Unfortunately, when you take seven penalties against the Washington Capitals, it’s going to be tough to keep them off the scoresheet especially Alex Ovechkin. That’s exactly what happened in overtime when No. 8 stood in his usual spot, took a rocket of a shot that Frederik Andersen couldn’t track.
Of course, this game was played hours after Ovechkin gave his own assessment of the Leafs play saying they have to start playing as a team rather than play for themselves as individuals. Well, it appears Toronto head Ovi loud and clear as they didn’t back down when Tom Wilson was taking liberties on Jake Muzzin and Tyson Barrie.
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Give Frederik Gauthier credit, there aren’t many players who are willing to go after Wilson and he stood up for Barrie. Clearly ‘the Goat’ decided enough was enough considering how many players on the team were getting pushed around and you can bet Mike Babcock appreciated it.
Since Auston Matthews took a nasty hit from Brenden Dillon, there have been a lot of people debating whether the Leafs have enough pushback. Well, you could certainly say that wasn’t an issue against Washington but it also got the Leafs in some trouble with the referees.
At least you could say that the Leafs were given their fair share of power plays in this game. The problem was that the Leafs went 1-for-8 with the man advantage.
When you are struggling like the Leafs have been, the one area they can’t show weakness is on the power play. The big problem obviously is that they only managed 11 shots with the man advantage in eight opportunities which isn’t what you want to see when your power play is struggling.
On a positive note, they did find a way to light the lamp on the power play but they also took some unnecessary penalties in overtime that cost them an extra point. Hopefully, this performance can give them something to build off of and they can get back in the win column against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Jake Muzzin’s injury another tough blow to blue line. dark. Next
What are your thoughts on the game? Did the Leafs do enough to win? What do they need to improve on? Let us know in the comments below.